The house!

The house is STILL coming along. I guess I shouldn't complain. The longer the house takes, the longer I am out of work. But along the way I've become the foreman/contractor of the project. Making sure everyone does their work, cleaning up after they leave, reporting to the owner (Alex) what was done and not done. We are still hunting for a good painter. We've gotten estimates from $7,000-$11,000. I think the guy that gave us the $11,000 estimate might have been crazy because our house really isn't that big! After several estimates I told Alex he should just drive down to Home Depot and hire a couple of workers that are out on the street! Ha, Ha!

I was sitting at the "money pit" (alex's house) today and watching the painter across the street. Our very nice neighbor needed some painting done as well and hired the very cheapest painter he could fine.....and he was REALLY cheap. So, I tried several times last week to call this guy and get him to come out and give me an estimate. He never called back.....this is pretty typical....I guess alot of people around here really don't need to work. Any way.......I was watching him today at the house across the street and realized that I'm glad he didn't call back. First of all, his crew is made up of just himself! He is a crew of one! Now, I don't know alot about painting, but I would think that it takes MUCH longer to paint the outside of a house all by yourself.

Number 2.............he is taking more breaks than I ever thought possible. He has a lawn chair and table set up in my neighbors driveway and comes back to it every hour or so.........then he procedes to sit there for 15-20 minutes at a time relaxing. Now, don't get me wrong, you need breaks............but this guy is ridiculous! I'm guessing this job might take him about 3 months at the rate he's going.